When looking to open his newest Next Door American Eatery restaurant, Kimbal Musk recently said he decided on Mellody Farm in Vernon Hills, in part, because neighboring stores shared the same focus on healthy living.
Musk, who worked with older brother Elon Musk as a tech entrepreneur, visited the Vernon Hills location for a grand opening April 11. The restaurant, which represents the first Next Door American Eatery in Illinois, officially opened April 8.
The restaurant offers “food you can trust” that comes from local farmers and companies, according to the business’ promotional materials. Employees cook meals from scratch, instead of using processed and precooked food, in an “urban casual” setting, the company has said.
When he was looking at prospective suburban locations, Musk told Pioneer Press recently that the design of the Mellody Farm shopping center and its tenants, such as REI and Whole Foods, fit Next Door American Eatery’s image.
“The Whole Foods customer, the REI customer, the Nordstrom customer — they are people who know what they want and they want real food and they want to trust where it’s coming from,” Musk said.
Next Door American Eatery is located directly in front of the main Milwaukee Avenue entrance, near a shared fire pit and park space and across the road from the popular, heavy-metal-themed Kuma's Corner restaurant.
“This development matched Next Door — it’s more fun, more hip and more affordable,” Musk said. “Bringing the urban casual to the suburbs is exciting.”
The new restaurant is 3,900 square feet and can seat 203 patrons.
Mundelein residents Maurina Ruff and Eren Garcia, who both work at a nearby store, stopped by the recent opening to see firsthand what Next Door American Eatery offers.
Ruff, who normally doesn’t like burgers, tried the “Pineapple Express” burger.
“It was juicy and I didn’t feel groggy after eating it like I sometimes do with burgers,” Ruff said.
For the owners of Mellody Farm, the opening of Next Door American Eatery follows the recent openings of other prominent restaurants, including Kuma’s Corner, B.Goods and Lazy Dog Restaurant and Bar, a California-based chain that allows dogs on its patio.
Matt Hendy, a vice president with Regency Centers, which owns and operates the open-air shopping center, said he’s received nothing but positive feedback from stores since the center opened in October.
“With the traffic being what they are for not only the restaurants, but also our anchor tenants like REI, Nordstrom Rack and HomeGoods, I think the thesis of a high-quality, open air, experiential shopping center would have been proven,” Hendy said.
Regency Centers is preparing for the opening of two more restaurants. Negotiations with another restaurant, which is looking to occupy a different storefront, are ongoing, Hendy said.
Buttermilk Cafe, a breakfast and coffee bar with locations in Naperville and Geneva, is going through the permit process in Vernon Hills to open a 4,000-square-foot storefront a few doors down from Kuma’s Corner.
Shake Shack, which features a modern menu devoted to burgers, chicken, hot dogs, shakes, frozen custard, beer and wine, according to its website, is slated to occupy a new 3,000-square-foot building that is under construction next to REI.
Hendy said he’s hoping to add a “date night”-type restaurant for a storefront across from Next Door American Eatery, as well as an ice cream or desert company to fill one of the other remaining spots in the shopping center.
Presently, “about half a dozen” leases are in negotiations and are likely to go public in the next two months, Hendy said.
“In a couple months, we’ll be at or above 90 percent leased occupancy, and to be at that level less than a year after opening a big retail center, it speaks volumes about the pent up demand for high-quality retail in this area,” Hendy said.
Aside from Next Door American Eatery, Musk’s presence in the Chicago area dining scene includes The Kitchen, a restaurant in Chicago’s River North neighborhood that has served many customers from the northern suburbs, he said.
In addition to operating The Kitchen, Musk also runs a nonprofit, Big Green, which installs “learning gardens” in underserved areas within Chicago Public Schools as a way to promote “food literacy” and provide children with hands-on learning.
Big Green offers learning gardens throughout the country and is preparing to start its 200th garden in Chicago by May 1, Musk said.
The organization also has been talking with schools in Lake County about bringing the program to areas near the new Next Door American Eatery, he said.
Lindsey Shifley, a parent at Diamond Lake School District 76 in Mundelein, made time to talk with Musk while attending the recent grand opening of Next Door.
Shifley said someone in her extended family was hired into Musk’s company and recently referred her as a local contact for a possible learning garden.
“I’d love to get a learning garden for Diamond Lake (District 76),” Shifley said. “It’s important that children know where food comes from.”